Lunchtime
The next day.
Ding-dong-dang-dong.
The bell announcing the long-awaited lunch period finally rang.
No sooner had the teacher said "Class dismissed" than the classroom erupted into pure chaos.
"Yo, Taekyeong!"
Jinhyeok came bouncing over from the front door.
I stood up from my chair.
"What's on the menu today?"
"Ah, about that. I'm not doing cafeteria food today."
"Huh? Hitting the snack shop?"
At my question, Jinhyeok snorted and flashed a V-sign with his fingers. Then he held it up against his jawline, striking an utterly unnecessary pose.
"This big bro is eating out today."
"Outside?"
"Yep. My pretty, adorable Ji-eun noona has a free period and says she's coming by the school to treat me. So I already snagged a leave pass from the homeroom teacher."
"············."
He really pulled every trick in the book.
A high schooler going out for lunch with his college girlfriend during the break?
I was so jealous I could cry.
Still, for the sake of my friend's bright future…
"Fine. Don't choke, and enjoy yourself. You traitor."
"Sorry, sorry! Tomorrow I'll definitely hit the snack shop with you! Bro's out!"
Jinhyeok waved in that infuriating way of his and vanished out of the classroom.
"Haah."
So lunch today was a solo mission.
Whatever. It didn't matter.
Life was meant to be lived alone, wasn't it?
I headed for the cafeteria at a leisurely pace, all by myself.
The cafeteria was, as always, a full-blown flea market of noise and elbows. I loaded my tray with a reasonable amount of rice and sides and claimed an empty seat in the corner by the window.
Today's menu was spicy stir-fried pork.
Hell yeah. The classics.
If the menu had been garbage, I would have felt truly abandoned by the universe, so this was a relief.
I picked up my chopsticks and was just about to lift a piece of pork to my mouth when—
Thud!
Someone set a tray down across from me.
"······?"
I looked up to find Seo Nari smiling brightly.
"Hey, Taekyeong~"
"Uh······. Hey."
What was this girl doing here?
Seo Nari propped her chin in her hand and studied me with open interest.
"Eating alone? You look lonely."
"Not lonely at all. Call me a solitary gourmet savoring his pork in peace."
"Pfft, what even is that. Anyway, food tastes worse when you eat alone. Come eat with us."
Us?
At her words, I turned my head a little.
Behind Seo Nari, Han Yeoreum was approaching with her tray—and the second she spotted me sitting there, she froze solid.
"Uh······. Uh······?"
Yeoreum's eyes darted everywhere and nowhere at once.
Beep! Beep! Unfamiliar male human spotted on unexpected route! Seek escape route immediately!!
It was written all over her face in giant letters.
The hands holding her tray started trembling, and she looked ready to back away.
I wasn't an unfamiliar guy anymore, was I?
And then—
Grab!
"Yeoreum, what are you doing! Sit down already~ There's a seat right here."
Seo Nari turned and caught hold of her.
"N-Nari······! W-wait a second······!"
"No excuses—sit~ You'll get sore legs if you just stand there."
With terrifying social force, Seo Nari forcibly parked Yeoreum in the seat diagonal to mine.
Thump.
The moment she sat, Yeoreum hung her head low. Her shoulders were hunched up tight, her gaze locked on her tray without the slightest twitch.
······She's going to inhale her food through her nose at this rate.
I set down my chopsticks and looked at Seo Nari.
"Why'd you deliberately come over this way?"
"Whyy? I just wanted to thank you for looking after our Yeoreum, and you eating alone felt a little sad, so I came to join you. Am I an unwelcome guest?"
Seo Nari opened her eyes wide as she asked.
"No, well······. Not unwelcome. It's just that the girl next to you doesn't seem able to breathe."
At my words, Seo Nari glanced at Yeoreum.
Yeoreum really did seem to be holding her breath—her face was growing redder by the second.
"Yeoreum, breathe. You'll choke before you even start eating."
"Huuuup—puhaah······."
Only then did Yeoreum let out the breath she'd been holding.
"By the way, Taekyeong, why are you alone? Don't you always hang around with Kim Jinhyeok?"
"Oh, you know him?"
"Yeah, I've talked with him a few times at soccer club."
"Ah, right."
Kim Jinhyeok was on the soccer team. Seo Nari was the soccer team manager.
"He got a leave pass today and went out to eat. His girlfriend's treating him."
"Whoa, no way. A high schooler getting a leave pass just to meet his girlfriend? Total player."
"Yeah. Apparently she's a college noona."
"Wow, for real? Then do you have a girlfriend?"
Seo Nari stuck her spoon in her mouth and hit me with that completely out of nowhere.
Suddenly going for the throat, huh.
"Nope."
"Why not? Someone like you should be pretty popular. You're the type who acts cold but secretly looks after people."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. You can tell from how you didn't even get mad when our Yeoreum stuck a sticky note on your forehead yesterday morning. Any other guy would've completely lost it."
Wouldn't they have lost it because they liked it?
Anyway, at those words, Yeoreum's shoulders—she'd been picking at her food—jerked upward.
Aaaahhhh! Please don't bring that uppp!!
I could practically hear her inner scream from here.
She bowed her head so hard she looked ready to bury her face in her tray.
I snorted a laugh and took a bite of the stir-fried pork.
"I just figured it was karma for teasing her. And that forehead slap was seriously solid. The snap on that thing was no joke."
Cough! Cough cough!!
At my words, Yeoreum finally started choking for real.
"Oh my, Yeoreum—are you okay?!"
Seo Nari pulled out a tissue to hand over, but I was faster. I slid the water cup I'd already poured toward Yeoreum.
"Don't burn your mouth. Drink."
"C-cough! Y-yeah······. Th-thanks······."
Yeoreum gripped the cup and gulped the water down. With tears welling slightly in her eyes, she glanced at me once, then hung her head low again.
Watching the whole thing, Seo Nari's lips curled into a sly little grin.
"Oho~ Our Taekyeong is super sweet, huh? Feel good watching Yeoreum drink water?"
"Did you come here just to mess with me?"
"Mess with you? I'm just grateful that you take such good care of our Yeoreum."
Seo Nari waved her chopsticks through the air as she spoke playfully.
"Same with cooking practice yesterday. Our Yeoreum is an amazing cook, right?"
"I'll give her that. She was seriously good."
I nodded without hesitation.
"When she was making fried rice yesterday, her wok-tossing skills put the neighborhood Chinese place's chef to shame."
"Th-that's not true······."
Yeoreum, who'd only been listening quietly until now, protested in a voice that nearly vanished into her throat. The tips of her ears were already cooked bright red.
"See! Our Yeoreum really is a cooking genius!"
Seo Nari looked proud as if it were about herself.
"Whoever our Yeoreum ends up marrying, that guy must have saved the country in a past life. Right, Taekyeong?"
"Yeah. He'll be eating hotel-quality meals every day. I'm jealous."
I answered soullessly.
Though the jealousy was completely genuine.
"Then why don't you take our Yeoreum, Taekyeong?"
"Pffft!!"
This time I nearly spat out the rice I was eating. I barely clamped my mouth shut and glared at Seo Nari.
This girl had truly mastered the art of messing with people.
"Hey now—when you're eating, just eat. You'll choke."
"Whyy~ I think it's a great suggestion?"
Seo Nari giggled.
And Yeoreum, sitting diagonal to me—
"············."
Her entire face had gone past tomato and straight into full radish-red territory.
Reading the room, I threw in a word.
"Hey, cut it out. She's actually going to faint. I've been handling her carefully like glass craftwork, and you're wrecking all of it."
"Oh my, glass craftwork. That expression is hilarious."
Seo Nari cackled.
That was when.
Very quietly, but clearly—
"I'm······ not······ glass······."
"Huh?"
Seo Nari and I looked at Yeoreum at the same time.
Yeoreum still had her head down, but with her fists clenched tight, she muttered once more.
"I'm······ not as fragile as glass······."
Oh.
Did she just push back at me?
Seo Nari also looked quite surprised, eyes wide as she stared at Yeoreum.
I propped my chin in my hand and let out a snort of laughter.
"Alright, got it. Master Chef Han Yeoreum. I'll handle you carefully like steel craftwork so you don't break."
"Th-that's weird too······!"
Yeoreum jerked her head up with a full pout.
"Ahahahahaha!!"
Seo Nari finally couldn't hold it in and laughed brightly. I found myself laughing along too.
A noisy, chaotic lunch period.
It was supposed to be a lonely solo meal after Jinhyeok betrayed me.
But well.
This three-person combo.
Wasn't half bad either.
After school.
Yeoreum and I finished our cleaning duty and left the classroom.
"Good work today too. Get home safe."
"Y-yeah. You too······."
In front of the school gate, we exchanged a brief goodbye and parted ways.
I adjusted my bag and turned my steps toward my studio apartment.
Ah, right. I used up my math notebook.
After walking a few steps, it suddenly hit me.
I might not look like it, but I actually paid attention in class. Listening carefully during lessons was more efficient than studying alone at home, so falling behind on notes was something I absolutely hated.
I immediately changed direction and headed for the stationery store in front of the school.
Thud, thud.
All sorts of miscellaneous goods were displayed on the stand outside the store. There was an elementary school nearby, which only made the selection denser—slippers, umbrellas, writing supplies, and all kinds of stuffed animals.
"Let's see, notebooks······."
I was scanning the stand when—
"············."
A familiar head of light brown hair came into view.
My desk partner, Han Yeoreum.
She was crouching with her bag still on, staring at something with absolute, unblinking concentration.
What's she looking at so hard?
Curious, I approached silently and peered over her shoulder.
There, dog and cat toys hung in a thick cluster. In Yeoreum's hand was a fishing-rod-shaped cat toy with colorful feathers attached.
"Gonna buy that?"
"Hiiik!"
At my sudden words, Yeoreum jumped a full mile. She nearly dropped the feather toy, barely caught it, and whipped around to face me.
"Y-yeah······? W-when did you get here······?"
"Just now. Came to buy notebooks and saw you completely zoned out."
I picked up three math notebooks from the stand as I spoke.
"That feather—for that little cheese cat?"
"Ah······. Y-yeah. Watching it eat the Churu was so cute······. I thought maybe it'd like it if I played with it using this······."
Yeoreum, embarrassed, hid the toy behind her back as she answered in a voice that nearly vanished.
"Nothing wrong with that. I hear even stray cats like hunting games. Ready to check out?"
"Yeah······."
We went into the stationery store side by side and finished paying.
Ding-a-ling.
We stepped back outside.
Since we were headed the same way, we naturally ended up walking side by side—but somehow, maybe because it was the first time walking alone together outside school, an awkward air settled between us.
"············."
"············."
Yeoreum clutched her bag strap with both hands, walking with quick little steps while staring only at the ground.
Still, the fact that she wasn't just running away like before was real progress.
What should I even say.
Weather talk felt too cliché. Just as I was about to bring up cooking—
"Oppa!!!"
From far away, a familiar voice called out.